Manufacture of shoes



Aug. '21, 1928. 1,681,226

T. C. ERSKINE MANUFACTURE OF SHOES Filed Oct 15, 1924 Patented Aug. 21, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,681,226 PATENT OFFICE.

- THOMAS C. ERSKINE, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MANUFACTURE OF SHOES.

Application filed October 15, 1924. Serial No. 743,806.

This invention relates to improvements in the, manufacture of shoes, and it has special reference to the construction of shoe bottoms and to methods of making and assembling shoe bottoms.

The appearance of a shoe having a wooden heel depends very largely upon the positioning of the heel with'respect to the sole and the closeness of the joint between the heel and the sole. The heel-seat of a leather sole is commonly repared for the reception of a wooden heel by an operation known as heel-seat fitting, in which the peri her of the rear end of the sole is trimme or eveled oil to provide a convex heel-seat surface adapted to coact with the concave heelseat surface of the heel so that the heel v the two.

seats firmly with the periphery of the heelseat portion of the heel in close contact with the upper. A transverse cut is made in the sole at the heel breast line, which is commonly located by positioning the heel upon the sole, and the breast of the heel bears against the shoulder formed by this transverse cut. The accuracy of the joint between the breast of the heel and the shank ofthe sole is dependent in a large measure on the accuracy of the workman in making the transverse cut and especial difliculty is found in producing a sufficiently tight joint between the breast of the heel and the shank of the sole so that no crack appears between Further difiiculty is ex erienced in locating the forward corners o the heel laterally with respect to the sole so' that the sides of the heel coincide exactly with the edges of the shank of the sole.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of manufacturing shoes which will produce a perfect joint between the heel and the sole without requiring excessive skill by the operator. For the fulfillment of this object, considering the invention in one aspect, notches having upright corners are formed in the heelseat end of a sole adjacent to the heel breast consequently a perfect conjunction of the.

lateral edges of the sole and the sides of the heel may be obtained during the trim ming operation. a

providing a sole with a tongue having ing the rear end of the sole substantially as before. Each lateral edge of the tongue preferably forms one side of one of the heel breast locating notches. The wooden heel which is to be applied to a sole, made as above described, is provided with a recess 1n its attaching face adjacent to the breast of the heel shaped complementally to the outline of the tongue and extending deeper into the heel than does the normal concavity thereof. Preferably the depth of this recess is slightly less than the thickness of the tongue upon the sole. When therefore the heel is assembled .with the sole by inserting the forward corners of .the heel in the notches above described, the recessed end of the heel-adjacent to the breast surface overlies the tongue upon the sole and, as the heel is pressed against the sole and secured in position, it bears against this tongue and forms a tight joint between thebreast surface of the heel and the surface'of the shank of the sole.

In another aspect, the invention consists in a shoe bottom comprising a'n untrimmed sole and a finished heel, in which the sole is provided with a tongue constructed as above described and with lateral extensions in the untrimmed edges ofthe sole adjacent to the sides of said tongue to form notchesat the heel breast line. The shoe heel constituting part of the shoe bottom is provided with a recess shaped-as above described.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following specification taken in connection with the'accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the rear portion of a shoe, constructed in accordance with my invention, mounted upon a last;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the heel-seat of a shoe constructed in accordance with my novel method; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an inverted heel recessed for co-operation with the heelseat of the shoe shown in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the shoe bottom, indicating by dotted lines the contour of the sole of the shoe at the time the heel is attached.

After a shoe such as is indicated at 10 has been formed upon a last 12 and an outer sole 14 has been attached, a heel-seat is formed in the outer sole by cuttin it transversely adjacent to untrimmed e ges 16 of the shank 18 of the sole 14 to provide notches 20 having upright corners, which are spaced apart the distance between the lateral surfaces of the heel and are pro erly located with respect to the sides of t e shoe so that when the heel is attached, the breast corners of the heel may be inserted in said notches to insure the exact location of the heel upon the shoe with respect to the median line of the sole. The untrimmed edges of the shank provide surplus material forming extensions 21 which cooperate with the central portion of the sole to provide the notches 20 and are removed when the sole edges are trimmed. In connection with the formation of the notches 20, a rearwardly extending tongue 22 is formed upon the sole which tongue is of the full thickness of the shank of the sole and constitutes an integral extension thereof. The extensions 21 provide the outer sides of the notches 20 while the lateral sides of the tongue form the inner sides of said notches. This tongue 22, at a transverse line adjacent to the bottoms of the notches 20 coinciding with the position of the heel breast line, is of substantially the full width of the finished sole. The configuration of the tongue is not necessarily curved exactly like that shown in the drawings. The trimming of the peripheral portion of the rear end of the sole is effected either manually or mechanically to bevel the sole and provide a convex heel-seat 24 adjacent to and extending rearwardly from the tongue 22. It will be observed later, that it is not necessary for a proper assembling of the shoe or for accurate results that the vertical surface 26 of the tongue shallbe in a plane exactly perpendicular to the shank as is necessary in the former method of manufacture when the breast surface of the heel is perpendicular to the shank, and it is not necessary that the shape of the tongue shall conform more than approximately to the shape of the recess in the heel. A wooden heel suitably formed for attachment to the sole of a shoe shaped in accordance with the features above described is illustrated in Fig. 3 and will be seen to be concaved at 28 as usual and to be provided with a recess 30 curved in contour like the curvature of the tongue 22, the wall 32 of said recess preferably intersecting the lateral surface 34 of the heel at the breast corners 36. Commonly a wooden heel of this type will be provided with a cover 38 of leather or cloth or celluloid and a toplift 40 which may be attached in any desired fashion as by means of a screw 42. When .a heel of this construction is assembled upon the sole of the shoe, the bottom 44 of the recess 30 will bear against the tongue 22 and serve to hold the shank of the sole tightly in engagement with the up er'and to support the portion of the sole a jacent to the notches 20 across the entire width of the finished sole so that there will be no separation of the sole from the upper at this point. In addition it will be observed that a corner 46 between the breast surface of the heel and the bottom 44 of the recess will bear against the shank of the sole and the heel in such a fashion, as a result of the slightly less depth of the recess compared with the thickness of the tongue 22, that when the heel is temporarily tightly clamped against the sole, for example by means of its screw fastener 48 passing through the last into the heel, and later permanently fastened in this position, the corner 46 is forced to engage closely with the shank of the sole and absolutely revent any separation or crack between t e two.

.It will be observed then that the notches 20 constitute means for exactly locating the heel both laterally and longitudinally upon the shoe so that, prior to the permanent attachment of the heel to the shoe, the forward end of the heel is positioned with its outside breast corners 36 formed by the intersection of the breast surface with the lateral surface 34 coinciding with the sides of the upper. After the heel has been at tached the shank will be trimmed to remove the surplus material constitutin the extensions 21 which are indicated y lines in Fig. 4. It will also be seen that the edges of the shank of the sole are held tightly against the upper without the necessity of using metallic fasteners at this point, as is frequently done to hold down the corners of the shank left free by the removal of part of the periphery of the sole in the operation of heel-seat fitting as usually performed.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in the manufacture of shoes which consists in forming notches in the heel-seat end of a sole adjacent to the heel breast line and locating a heel with respect to the median line of the sole by inserting 1n said notches the lateral corners of the heel formed by the intersection of the breast surface with the lateral surfaces of the periphery of the heel.

2. That unprovement in the manufacture of shoes which consists in forming notches having upright corners in the heel-seat end of a sole adjacent to the ends of the heel breast line, locating a heel laterally with respect to the sole by inserting the upright lateral corners of the breast of the heel in said notches, and performing a trinnning operation upon the notched part of the sole. 3. That improvement in the manufacture of shoes which consists in trimming the rear portion of a sole around its periphery to form a convex heel-seat adapted to coact with the concavity in the heel-seat surface of the heel and providing said sole with a tongue adjacent to said heel-seat having substantially the full thickness of the sole across its entire width, and applying a heel, suitably formed, to said shoe to overlie said tongue whereby the sole is held in close engagement with the upper adjacent to ,the breast line of the heel by the engagement of the heel with said tongue.

4. That improvement in the manufacture of shoes which consists in trimming the rear portion of a sole around its periphery to orm a convex heel-seat adapted to coact with a concavity in the heel-seat surface of a heel, providing said sole with a tongue adjacent to said heel-seat having substantially the full thickness of the sole across its entire width at a point adjacent to the heel breast line, and applying a heel recessed to a depth less than the thickness of the tongue to the heel-seat of said shoe to overlie the tongue and hold the sole closely in engagement with the upper adjacent to the breast line of the heel by the engagement of the heel with said tongue.

5. That im rovement in the manufacture of shoes whic consists in forming a tongue upon the heel-seat end of an unfinished sole extending rearwardly of the breast line of the heel, each lateral edge of said tongue forming one side of a notch the corner of which lies on a line to which the edge of the sole is to be finished, said notch being adapted to receive a projecting corner of the breast of the heel, locating the heel with respect to said sole by means of said notches, and attaching it to the shoe over said tongue.

6.. That improvement in the manufacture of shoes which consists in forming the heel end of the sole of a shoe for the reception of the heel, beveling the heel-seat of the sole to cause it to fit the concavity of the heelseat surface of the heel, forming a tongue adjacent to said beveled portion, one part of said tongue at its maximum width extending completely across the shank of the shoe, and applying a heel .to said shoe which is provided with a recess below its normal concavity to receive said tongue and adapted to bear against said sole approximately at the maximum width of the tongue.-

7. A shoe bottom comprising an untrimmed sole and a finished heel, said sole having at the rear end ofits shank portion lateralextensions in the untrimmed edges of the sole arranged in conjunction with the central portion of the sole to form notches at the heel breast line to receive the outside corners of the breast of the heel and to locate them with respect to the shoe bottom.

8. A shoe bottom comprising a sole and a finished heel, said sole having at the rear end of its shank portion a portion forming a heel-seat surface and a rearwardly extending tongue thicker than said seat forming portion, said heel having a recess in its attaching surface shaped complementally to the ton ue extending across the whole width of the reast of the heel.

9. A shoe bottom comprising a sole and a finished heel, said sole having at the rear end of its shank portion a rearwardly extending tongue whose thickness at a point adjacent to the heel breast line is substantially the full thickness of the sole, said heel having a recess in its heel-seat engaging surface adjacent to the heel breast, said recessbeing of less depth than the thickness of the tongue whereby the attached heel will bear against the tongue at the heel breast line and form a tightjoint.

10. A shoe bottom comprising an untrimmed sole and a finished heel, said sole having at the rear end of its shank portion a rearwardly extending tongue and lateral extensions in the untrimmed edges of the sole adjacent to the sides of said tongue constructed and arranged to form notches at the heel breast line, said heel having a recess shaped complementally to said tongue extending across substantially the whole width of the breast of the heel to form in conunction with the lateral faces of the heel sharp corners adapted to be received in the aforesaid notches.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

THOMAS C. ERSKIN E. 

